Interagency

Ed. Note: This post is part of the Commerce in the Community series highlighting the work of community leaders and organizations that are strengthening the middle class and providing ladders of opportunity for all Americans.

Below is an interview with Mark Edwards, Executive Director of Opportunity Nation, which he launched in 2011 with a coalition of more than 250 cross-sector partners. This post originally appeared on Commerce.gov

Q1: What is Opportunity Nation?

Opportunity Nation is a national, cross-sector campaign comprised of more than 300 businesses, educational institutions, nonprofits and civic organizations working together to expand economic mobility and close the opportunity gap in the US.

Our work is guided by the belief that the zip code where you are born should not determine your chances in life. If the ability to move up the ladder of opportunity grinds to a halt, we are in grave danger of losing the best of America.

This month, SelectUSA is really upping our game when it comes to online engagement around investment. We hope you’ll join the conversation on Twitter at #SelectUSA!

Our colleagues across the Commerce Department will be sharing their thoughts on how innovation, data and hard work contribute to job creation. We’re collaborating with our friends at the State Department’s Economic & Business Affairs Bureau, as well as with our Commerce and State colleagues throughout the United States and globally at our embassies and consulates.

Are you a small business owner with an amazing success story to tell? If so, submit your nomination today for the 2014 National Small Business Week Awards. Nominations are currently being accepted online at http://nationalsmallbusinessweek.sba.gov/.

For more than 50 years, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions in their local communities, and to our nation’s economy. Winners will be announced during National Small Business Week – May 12-16, 2014.

Last year, we honored small business owner John Stonecipher—CEO of Guidance Aviation—with the National Small Business Person of the Year Award. John turned his childhood fascination with airplanes into a successful business. Today Guidance Aviation has a staff of 55, fourteen aircrafts and a waiting list of students ready to take flight into their futures.

In addition to the portal, nominations can also be sent directly to SBA District Offices, which can be located online at district offices. All nominations must be submitted online, postmarked or hand delivered to the SBA no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on January 17, 2014.

That’s the core objective of BusinessUSA. Approaching two years since its launch in early 2012, BusinessUSA was created to provide businesses a better entryway into the host of programs and opportunities the federal government has to offer. Too often, interactions with the government are burdensome, frustrating, and confusing. BusinessUSA aims to fix that by providing a single point of access to those programs and resources relevant to business owners and exporters.

It is BusinessUSA’s mission to ensure that potential and existing business owners have access to programs and opportunities that can help them grow and succeed. Agencies and Departments from across the federal government have collaborated on the site to ensure that users have access to many programs and resources they might not otherwise be able to find, as well as complementary resources from other providers. The site offers easy to use, step by step tools for starting or growing a business, starting or expanding exporting operations, getting disaster assistance, finding opportunities, and more. BusinessUSA is also a place business owners can go to get information about the new health care law.

I am pleased to invite you to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2013 Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation to be held on Thursday, November 21, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., at our headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.

Similar to last year, the focus of this year’s forum will be The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which was legislation enacted last year to encourage small business growth and startup funding by increasing the ability of small businesses to raise capital and by lessening certain regulatory requirements for individual investments in new businesses. Under Title VII of the JOBS Act, the SEC is required to conduct outreach to inform several business communities, including minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses, of the changes made by the Act.

This week the consulting firm A.T. Kearney published its annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index. The Index surveys top executives from more than 300 leading global companies – representing more than $2 trillion in annual global revenue – on where they are directing their investment strategies. For the first time since 2001, the United States ranked #1 on this list, retaking the top spot!

The Department of Commerce’s SelectUSA program has seen this trend coming through the work we conduct on a daily basis. Companies both large and small increasingly understand that the United States is the destination of choice for capital, and an unparalleled place to invest and do business.

Markets such as Brazil, Canada, China, and Europe will continue to receive significant cross-border investment. However, the survey suggests that the resurgence of investment in American manufacturing is not just a temporary trend but the new reality.

What do the states of Montana, Vermont, New Mexico, Alaska, and Mississippi have in common? They are, according to a report published this spring by the Kauffman Foundation, Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, 1996–2012, the states that posted the highest rates of entrepreneurial activity in 2012.

• A most important measure—the formation of businesses with employees—held steady from 2011 to 2012: At 0.11 percent (meaning 11 employer businesses per 100,000 individuals), an average of 193,000 new employer businesses were formed each quarter in 2012.

This is important, and good, news about our economy. And these states should be applauded for what they are doing to foster entrepreneurship, which is a driver of economic growth and prosperity.

Support for entrepreneurship is a central part of the Economic Development Administration’s mission as it works to establish a foundation for sustainable job growth and the building of durable regional economies throughout the United States.

• In Montana, the Montana Technology Enterprise Center in Missoula, with EDA assistance, is undertaking a major renovation of its business incubator and building a new pilot chemical processing plant to help technology start-up companies commercialize research.

U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank just announced that the inaugural SelectUSA Investment Summit will be held in Washington, DC from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, 2013.

The Summit will be the first of its kind, connecting businesses and investors from around the world with economic development organizations (EDOs) from across the country in an effort to promote investment in the United States and support the creation of American jobs. The two-day event will also amplify the work of SelectUSA in delivering on President Obama’s agenda to increase direct investment in the United States as a way to spur economic growth and create jobs.

The Summit will bring together international and domestic investors; national, regional, state and local economic development organizations (EDOs); senior Obama Administration officials; business leaders; and industry and technical experts, providing them with a unique opportunity to discover all the reasons why the U.S. is the ideal destination for companies that are weighing options for locating or expanding their operations. During the two-day event, participants also will be able to explore potential investment opportunities in this country, as well as share best practices and build networks.

The U.S. Census Bureau is requesting nominations of individuals, both experts and organizational representatives, to the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. The 32 member Advisory Committee provides insight, perspectives, expertise and advice to the Director of the Census Bureau on the full spectrum of Census surveys and programs. The Committee assists the Census Bureau in developing appropriate research/methodological, operational, and communication strategies to reduce program/survey costs, improve coverage and operational efficiency, improve the quality of data collected, protect the public's andbusiness units' privacy and enhance public participation and awareness of Census programs and surveys, and make data products more useful and accessible.

Topics may include: hidden households, language barriers, students and youth, aging populations, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal considerations, new immigrant populations, populations affected by natural disasters, highly mobile and migrant populations, complex households, poverty populations, race/ethnic minorities, rural populations and population segments with limited access to technology. The Committee also advises on data privacy and confidentiality concerns, the dynamic nature of new businesses, minority ownership of businesses, as well as other concerns impacting Census survey design and implementation.

Borrowers and lenders of loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration will have greater access to capital and less paperwork as a result of a proposed regulation aimed at streamlining the SBA application process, while also strengthening oversight and the integrity of the agency’s loan programs.

“Streamlining and simplifying has been a key focus of our agency over the last few years. The changes are the latest steps to reduce paperwork burden, with our eye on the larger goal of expanding access to capital and giving entrepreneurs and small business owners the financial resources to grow and create jobs,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “Specifically, these proposed regulations will provide greater access to capital through our two largest loan programs, while also reducing risk to taxpayer dollars.”

The SBA proposes the new measures after extensive consultations with lenders and borrowers to identify the greatest challenges they face and find ways to reduce barriers to making and accessing loans, while still maintaining strict oversight.